Home > Work > Front and Center (Dairy Queen, #3)
1 " She says you're not truly human until you've had your heart broken and you've broken someone's heart. "
― , Front and Center (Dairy Queen, #3)
2 " And it occurred to me that the reason she makes it work, probably, is because she's so comfortable with herself. And you know, that's not such a bad notion, in the whole life-lesson business. Being comfortable with yourself. Because if you're not okay with who you are, why should anyone else be? "
3 " How could I pretend to be someone else when I was already failing at being the person I already was? "
4 " And if I didn’t, I’d spend the rest of my life wondering who I could have turned into if only I’d had the guts to try. "
5 " So what if Brian made me feel like fireworks were going off inside me. He could also make me feel like a big fat clod of heartsick dirt. It was like he could take any emotion I had and make it ten times stronger. Which is great when it's happiness but pretty darn awful if it's anything sad. "
6 " I swear, every person I know gets far more satisfaction from doing good deeds than receiving them. Maybe that’s the whole point in the end, all of us putting up with good deeds, tolerating them as best we can, counting the minutes until we have the opportunity to reciprocate. "
7 " And that's where our conversation went from there, than God, both of us laughing our butts off at the thought of a hoops game between two teams on intravenous fluids. Which makes absolutely no sense at all; I know that. But that's why it cheered me up, because it was so absolutely stupid. It cheered me up more than I'd ever thought I'd be cheered up again. "
8 " So break up with him. "
9 " It's the asking that's so painful. It takes real courage, real strength, to say you're not strong enough to do it alone. "
10 " Everyone's scared. So scared they can't sleep sometimes. Or eat. Or keep their weight on.""Then why bother playing?" I asked. It was a whisper, this question."Because. You love the game. You love the people you play with. You love winning, maybe. You love that one moment when you get it right . . . I dunno. Why do you play?""Because," I whispered, "it's who I am."Sounds like a good reason to me. "
11 " Still, I couldn't get over Dad calling those farmers. People might think helping is hard, but really that's the easy part; just look how good it makes people feel. Look how happy all those Red Bend ladies were about chipping in. It's the asking that's so painful. It takes real courage, real strength, to say you're not strong enough to do it alone. Mom must really be hurting for Dad to be so brave. "
12 " Being comfortable with yourself. Because if you're not okay with who you are, why should anyone else be? "
